Know Thy Enemy
by PunishmentFactor
Summary: It's an ordinary day at Marine Headquarters for Coby and Helmeppo, but when the subject of a beautiful female pirate who had been captured is brought up, it brings back unpleasant memories for Coby, and matters turn worse when he is asked to question her.
1. Chapter 1

**First, the obvious: I don't own One Piece.**

**It's been awhile since my last posting. This is one of dozens of stories simply not yet typed. My original draft of this story was originally a lot darker and very melodramatic, but I've lightened it up significantly. It was also titled "****Reunion.****" There are a few small Enies Lobby spoilers, but I would think most people would be past Enies Lobby by now. But if you haven't, I'm just to letting you know.**

**On a special note, I would like to add that this story was submitted to the Toronto Anime North Fanfiction Competition 2008, and was the winner of the "Best Characterization" award.**

**And now, on with the show!**

* * *

Coby was sitting in the lounge of Marine Headquarters, reading a book and in a state of complete relaxation.

Everything was going perfectly.

He had just been reunited with Luffy, after such a long time. Luffy had of course, beaten him, but it had only given Coby the motivation and determination to train harder. And even though their meeting had been brief, they had left behind the promise of meeting each other again…in the New World.

And what adventures would the New World hold for him? What dangers and experiences would he face? Just the thought of it made him bristle with anticipation.

And he had come such a long way from being that scrawny little chore boy. In such a short amount of time and training, he had risen to the rank of Petty Officer. But of course, his true dream was to become and Admiral.

And maybe, just maybe, by the time he met Luffy again…

"_I __will__ be an Admiral."_ thought Coby, determinedly. _"By the next time I meet Luffy, I'll be an Admiral."_

Coby smiled, turning a few pages of his book. _"Everything really is going perfectly."_ he thought.

But it was at times like these, just when Coby was feeling absolutely great about himself, when those memories would come back to them. Those awful thoughts, about how weak and helpless he had been. He probably would _still_ be stuck as a slave to that bitch, if it hadn't been for Luffy. But despite his efforts and resources as a Marine, he had been unable track her down. It was at times like these, no matter how well things were going for him, he was always reminded, of…_her._

"But I _will_ find her." said Coby softly to himself. "No matter what it takes, I have to bring her to justice."

"Talking to yourself again Coby?"

Coby turned to see Helmeppo striding into the lounge.

"Oh no, Helmeppo-san." said Coby shrugging. "Just thinking aloud, reflecting on my reading, you know."

"What are you reading anyway?" asked Helmeppo sitting down on the couch opposite him.

Coby showed him. It was a large volume titled "Increasing Your Mental and Physical Stamina."

"It's fascinating." said Coby eagerly. "And great to help with training. It's all about energies and fitness, and--"

"You're such a nerd." said Helmeppo, cutting him off. "That stuff is so dry. You're not going to find a girl by reciting the Table of Elements for her."

"Well anything's better than your trashy magazines." Coby shot back. "Do you think I want to spend my time drooling over pictures of airbrushed women?"

It was certainly true that Coby had recently hit puberty, his reflection in a mirror was an obvious tribute to that, but that hormone that was supposed to make him chase after girls just hadn't seemed to have kicked in yet.

"Oh that reminds me!" said Helmeppo eagerly. "Did you see _her,_ this morning?"

"Who?" said Coby, confused. "Is Hina here again? Leave the poor woman alone Helmeppo-san. She doesn't like you."

Coby vividly recalled the time Hina had dropped in for a conference with Vice-Admiral Garp and some other officers, and Helmeppo had spent the day fawning over her, until she had bluntly told him to go away. Coby had never let him live it down.

Helmeppo blushed, but recovered.

"No, it wasn't Hina." said Helmeppo, regaining his composure and continuing on jovially. "She was a pirate captain. I caught a glimpse of her as the officers were bringing her in. They said she was a pirate that they had managed to capture in the Grand Line during a battle. She was with another crew, as an assistant captain or something like that. The rest of the crew got away with their captain, but she ended up captured."

Coby was now listening intently. Any hint or mention of a female pirate caught his immediate attention.

"But you should have seen her!" said Helmeppo, continuing eagerly on. "She was so hot!! Such a knockout!! You would never believe she was a pirate! She had this thick, beautiful black hair, these and long, sexy legs! And she certainly wasn't shy about showing off her midriff! And her-"

But Coby had now stopped listening. Any woman Helmeppo deemed at "hot," "knockout," "beautiful" or "sexy" could not have possibly been the one he was looking for.

Helmeppo was now describing her eyes, which were supposedly like "deeply cut shards of emerald," and yet Coby couldn't help but wonder how Helmeppo had gotten such a good look at her eyes if he had only seen a glimpse of her.

"And she's eaten a devil fruit too!" Helmeppo said, still enthusiastically continuing his narrative, and oblivious to the fact Coby wasn't really listening.

"Most people from the Grand Line have." said Coby blandly.

"Well it was some sort of fruit that made her skin so smooth nothing could hurt her!" said Helmeppo, still under the impression Coby was actually listening. "Anything thing they hit her with just slid right off! Swords, bullets, nothing could hurt her!! They actually had to use seastone weapons against her, just to hurt her skin. And that stuff seriously weakens you if you've eaten devil fruit, but she was still fighting like mad when they dragged her in."

"How fascinating." said Coby, now immersed in his book again and pouring over a chapter titled "_Friction, Resistance and Kinetic Energies in Motion_." "What was her name?"

"I don't know." said Helmeppo, shrugging. "I asked her as they were taking her down to the lower cells, but she told me to _go to hell_."

Coby snorted with laughter.

"Oh well." said Helmeppo. "I like feisty women. It's too bad you didn't get to see her, she was really something special."

"Sure." said Coby, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever." said Helmeppo, leaning back on the couch and pulling out a magazine. "You just can't appreciate fine women."

Coby peered at the magazine.

"Garp will kill you if he catches you reading that stuff." he said appraisingly.

Helmeppo shrugged.

"They all seem so plain now, compared to, _her._" he said, dreamily. "It's too bad she's a pirate."

At that moment, Vice-Admiral Garp strode into the lounge and eating a donut. Coby stood up and smartly saluted while Helmeppo attempted to hide the magazine under a pillow.

"At ease." said Garp, and the both of them relaxed. He sat down on the opposite couch as Coby and Helmeppo did likewise.

"So, I take it you've both heard that--" Garp began.

"I actually_ saw_ her!" cut in Helmeppo, a distinct note of pride in his voice.

"Don't interrupt, Helmeppo-san!" Coby muttered, giving Helmeppo a jab in the ribs with his elbow.

Garp seemed taken aback, but continued.

"So I am correct in assuming you both know about the pirate from the Grand Line that was captured." said Garp. "As following usual standard procedure, we need to interrogate her. I was hoping that you would be willing to, Coby."

"That's not fair!!" cried Helmeppo indignantly. "How come Coby gets to go hang out with the hot girl?!"

But his complaint went unheard.

Garp had fallen asleep.

Helmeppo turned imploringly to Coby.

"Can I please go?" he pleaded. "Please? I'll do anything! Anything thing you want! I'll do your laundry for a week! I'll stop making fun of your books! I'll find you a girlfriend! Anything!!"

"Um…." said Coby reluctantly.

He had a rather disturbing image of a scantily-clad and straight out of a centerfold,_ pirate queen. _Blonde hair and positively dripping with gold jewelry, as she snaked her fishnet-clad legs around Helmeppo's waist, while he proceeded to--

"What's this?" said Garp suddenly waking up and shattering the rather explicit image that had been playing through Coby's head.

"Oh my!" said Helmeppo, turning pink as Garp unearthed the X-rated magazine from beneath one of the pillows. "How on earth did that get there? Coby, don't tell me you've taken up reading hentai? Shame on you. What's next, yuri?!" he added, highly unconvincingly.

"Helmeppo, I've told you to stop reading these filthy magazines." said Garp. "I'm going to have to confiscate it from you. Don't give me that look, I assure it's in very good hands."

Coby tried not to laugh, as he knew that Garp was only taking it on the premise of reading it later for himself, in secret of course. Once when Garp had sent Coby to get some records from his office, Coby had unearthed a shocking collection of "adult fiction" novels hidden under his desk, along with several boxes of donuts.

"So Coby." said Garp, now turning to him. "You'll interrogate her this afternoon then? Unless, you'd rather Helmeppo did? I hear she can be quite the seductress." he added with a chuckle.

Helmeppo gave Coby one last hopeful look, but there was no way Coby was going to trust Helmeppo alone with a 'seductress.'

"No, that's fine." said Coby. "I'll go."

Helmeppo looked devastated.

"Excellent!" said Garp.

And then he fell asleep.

* * *

**Ooo… suspenseful eh? (By the way, if you can't figure who the woman is, then you need to go back and re-read One Piece. Start at the beginning. The ****very**** beginning.) **

**And this actually is just a two-shot, so the next chapter is ****the end****… R and R please!! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Here we are again! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! Thanks especially to "Brisa" who went to great lengths to make sure I got their review, and to "Koigokoro-love" who pointed out a typo which I have now corrected. I think a lot of you are probably going to be a little annoyed at how the story ends, (I did mention it was only a two-shot) but feel free give me any good ideas in your reviews and I ****might**** be persuaded to add a chapter and change the ending. So any way, here is the second and final chapter! Please enjoy and review!!!**

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Coby was walking down the stairs that led the lower cells of the Marine Headquarters and trying not to shiver. It was cold, and even though had been down there several times before, it always made him uneasy. It was a miserable place. The kind of place you put people you wanted to forget about.

He wasn't really looking forward to the task before him. He had interrogated dozens of pirates once he had achieved his rank of Petty Officer, but he had never had to question a female pirate, the concept of course making him think of his past, and what he had failed to accomplish.

His thoughts began to scatter. What if he knew where she was? How would he confront her? Would she even recognize him as the boy she had tortured for over two years? He certainly had changed since then. Though one thing was for certain, he would have no trouble recognizing her.

Once at the bottom of the stairs he continued down the long and even colder hallway of doors. This woman was supposed to be shockingly beautiful, but Coby didn't particularly care. Helmeppo had continued to badger Coby all afternoon, trying to persuade him to change his mind, but Coby still didn't think it would have been a good idea. Helmeppo had probably exaggerated her good looks, and in any case, he was a lot less susceptible to 'seduction' than Helmeppo was.

He stopped in front of the door and pulled out his set of keys, now mentally checking his list of questions. Who was her captain or crew? Why she was in the Grand Line? What information on other pirates did she have? Blah, blah, blah…trivial stuff like that.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside the small room.

The woman was sitting in the corner, and as she looked up at him, Coby felt his breath catch in his chest.

Helmeppo had been _more_ than right.

Her eyes actually were like shards of emerald, but bloodshot and swollen, her long eyelashes sparkling with tears, making them glistening in the dim light. Her thick mane of ebony hair, though tangled and matted fell long down her back and elegantly framed her face. She was bruised and cut in a dozen different places, and blood trickled from her mouth and a deep gash on her cheek. But despite all this, she was incomparable to any woman Coby had ever seen. It was sad, to see someone so lovely in a place like this, broken and dejected.

And yet, a something told Coby to be on his guard. There was something strangely familiar abut her, and it gave him a very foreboding feeling. Something wasn't right, but Coby couldn't seem to figure out what. He could only stare in rapture.

And she stared back, disdainfully. Coby didn't know what to do or say, as she surveyed him with a piercing stare that seemed to read right through him. But he couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness.

And then her expression changed, her eyes widening. In disbelief? Coby couldn't tell. She seemed surprised, at something, but she never took her gaze off him.

And then she started to laugh.

Coby was taken aback.

"Well now, this is _ironic_." she said, her voice sweet and sultry, and tinted with distinct amusement. "You've certainly grown quite a bit. And you did manage to become a Marine. I honestly didn't think you had the guts to do it. My congratulations…"

She paused, smiling innocently.

"…Coby."

Coby was stunned. He gaped at her in disbelief.

"H-How do you know my name?" he managed to ask.

"Oh come now Coby," she said, still sounding amused. "How could forget you? You've always wanted revenge on me, haven't you? Well here I am, at _your_ mercy."

She held out her wrists, displaying the seastone cuffs they wore, almost proudly, as if they were a rather attractive bracelet.

"Well," she continued. "Are you going to kill me?"

There was no hint of fear in her voice. It was like a challenge.

"I don't understand." said Coby, the feeling of foreboding becoming stronger. "Why would I want to kill you?"

"Oh don't be so naive." she said, her voice now becoming icy. "And don't play games. _Surely_ you know who I am. We _both_ have changed, it's obvious in the both of us, and I won't deny it. You could be some high officer in the Marines by now, an Admiral even, for all I care. But you have no authority over me."

Coby was struck dumb, rooted to the spot, as she continued her narrative.

"Do you know why, Coby?" she said, sweetly.

Coby could say nothing, but stare at her.

"Because to me, you're always going to be that gutless, worthless, clumsy…"

She paused, evidently savoring Coby's look of horrified astonishment.

"…_cabin boy_."

The two words washed Coby in an icy wave of horror. How on earth could it be possible? Could she actually be...? Was she really….

"Alvida?"

Alvida smiled.

"So tell me, Coby. Who is the fairest maiden on all the seas?"


End file.
